In 34-24 loss to Raiders, Jets suffer beat down inside the Black Hole

US PresswireMark Sanchez comes up a yard short of a late-game touchdown.

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Jets’ trip out West did not bear a trademark comeback, leisurely hot-dog eating on the sideline or a perfect record.

Their three-game AFC road odyssey instead opened with the first blemish of the season, a 34-24 loss to the Oakland Raiders, in which the Jets looked little like the team they promised to be, and believe they have the talent to be.

“We lost to a team that was not as good as us, inferior to us,” outside linebacker Calvin Pace said. “But give them credit, they made plays and we didn’t.”

Pace later backed off the word “inferior.” He said he simply meant the Jets (2-1) knew how Oakland (2-1) would attack them, but yet couldn’t stop it. He and the rest of the Jets organization were searching for answers on their way out of O.com Coliseum today.

Quarterback Mark Sanchez was sacked four times, ending up with a red scratch under his right eye and a nose he wasn’t sure had been broken or not. Receivers Santonio Holmes and Plaxico Burress expected chances on the outside but combined for just four catches for 74 yards.

The run defense was perhaps the biggest conundrum, as the Jets allowed 171 rushing yards to Darren McFadden — 9.0 yards per carry — and 234 rushing yards in total, the most given up by a team that head coach Rex Ryan has been affiliated with since the 1995 Cardinals, according to ESPN.

“It’s my responsibility,” Ryan said. “We’ve got to get this thing fixed. I don’t know what it is. Communication, just physically getting beat? We will look at it all. We will all look at it, especially me.”

The refrain in the postgame locker room was that the Jets gave up the edge, the cardinal no-no when playing an explosive runner like McFadden. He scored twice, a 2-yard touchdown to cap the game’s opening drive and a 70-yarder late in the second quarter.

On that long touchdown, McFadden glided nearly untouched through the Jets defense, as linebacker Bart Scott was flung to the ground at the line and safety Jim Leonhard came over from the back side for the only chance at making a tackle.

The Jets were once in control of the game, with a 17-7 second-quarter lead behind an explosive start by LaDainian Tomlinson, who scored on an 18-yard pass. But missed opportunities — Sanchez threw an interception in the end zone after a 53-yard punt return by Jeremy Kerley, and a drive stalled on the 3-yard line as a third-down pass bounced off Matt Mulligan — wound up mattering.

Holmes said the offense was slow to adjust, as injuries to the Raiders secondary resulted in zone coverage rather than their expected man-to-man, and Sanchez faced frequent pressure in the second half.

“We’ve got to do a better job of adjusting on the fly as an offense,” Holmes said. “We can’t be forced to continue doing the same things when those guys are doing something different. We’ve got to open up our game plan a little bit and have a little bit more freedom.”

The score was tied 17-17 at halftime, but the game turned in the Raiders’ favor after a failed fourth-and-2 conversion by the Jets late in the third quarter. Sanchez targeted Plaxico Burress with what he admitted was “not a great throw.”

The Raiders took the ball and went on to score twice in 42 seconds to break open the game.

Rookie Denarius Moore reached the end zone on a 23-yard reverse, making at least four defenders miss. On the subsequent kickoff, cornerback Antonio Cromartie — who was flagged for four of the Jets’ seven penalties — muffed the catch, kicked it forward and let the Raiders pounce on it on the 13-yard-line.

Two plays later, Michael Bush walked into the end zone for a 31-17 lead.

The Jets tried to mount a late rally. A 16-yard touchdown pass to Burress gave them hope. But a 49-yard field goal by the Raiders ensured the Jets needed two scores to win.
With 49 seconds left, Sanchez’s knee touched down just shy of the goal line on fourth-and-2. A potential touchdown was nullified, and the Jets’ late-game magic had officially run out.